WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



LEIGH 



Richard Hoghton ' and daughter of Sir Thomas 

 Assheton, knt., by Agnes, another daughter and 

 coheir, and Isabel, wife of John Tresham, another 

 daughter and coheir.' In 1560 Rowland Stanley, 

 knt., grandson of Sir William, sold his estate here to 

 William Norris of Speke, knt.,' whose son Edward 

 joined him in 1565 in a sale to Thomas Charnock of 

 Charnock, esq.,* whose son Robert Charnock, esq., 

 died in 1 6 1 6 seised of the capital messuage of West- 

 leigh Old Hall, 4 other messuages, 140 acres of land, 

 meadow, and pasture, which he held of Richard 

 Urmston, esq., in free socage by fealty and ^d. free 

 rent.' In 1627 Thomas Charnock son of Robert 

 having dissipated his property conveyed his estates to 

 feoffees,* who sold ' the manor of Westleigh and 

 Pennington' and the appurtenant lands in 1632 to 

 Richard Blower and Francis Sherington, afterwards 

 of Booths, esqs., for ^^ 1,000.' In 1641 Blower sold 

 his moiety of the purchased estates to John Sorocold 

 of Lowton, gent., for ;^73o,' and the year following 

 Sherington and Sorocold made partition of the manor 

 of Westleigh and Pennington, by which Sherington 

 took the Old Hall of Westleigh and enclosures con- 

 taining about 41 acres of land of the large measure. 

 John Sorocold took the remainder of the premises, in 

 the description of which the following field names 

 occur : — The Meare Leach, the Harr Shoots, Great 

 and Little Terisse Meadows, Little Pingott, and the 

 Boydells Field. The land lay mostly around West- 

 leigh Mill. It was agreed that the ' Haymont, 

 yordinge,' hedges and fences between the respective 

 moieties should be maintained according to the deed 

 of partition ; Francis Sherington to begin at ' the 

 Fenders of Westley Milne and make the hayments 

 and fences after the Damsyde ' to a certain boundary 

 mark. The seat and burial-place in Leigh church 

 was to be shared equally. The yearly chief rent of 

 J^., due to Richard Urmston of Westleigh, esq., to 

 be paid two years by Sherington and the third year 

 by Sorocold.' 



In 1688 Francis Sherington of Booths, esq., son of 

 the last named, sold the Old Hall of Westleigh and 

 the demesne lands, then in the occupation of Thomas 

 Crooke, gent., and late of the vendor's father, to 

 James Parr, citizen and haberdasher of London, John 

 Parr, and Peter Parr of Westleigh, chapman, for the 

 sum of £600.^° Ann daughter of Peter Parr, who 

 died in 1705, married Edward Green of Westleigh, 

 chapman, and brought Westleigh Old Hall to her 

 husband. He survived until after 1756 and left an 

 only daughter Ellen, who married John Ranicar of 

 Bedford, gent., Westleigh Old Hall and estate being 

 settled upon them and their issue in 1756. John 



Ranicar died in 1 78 1, leaving issue, besides a son 

 James, who died unmarried in 1786, three daughters, 

 of whom the second, Mary, inherited Westleigh Old 

 Hall. She married Richard Nicholas Marsh, esq., to 

 whom she bequeathed the estate. He died in 1837, 

 leaving issue by a second marriage Richard Marsh, esq., 

 solicitor, of Leigh, who died in 1895. His son 

 William Edward Marsh, esq., of High Peak, Kenyon, 

 died in 1904, when he was succeeded by his brother, 

 Mr. Richard Thomas Marsh of High Peak, the present 

 owner." 



The Hoghtons' pourparty descended from Richard 

 Hoghton to his eldest son Thomas, who alienated a 

 small portion of his estate here to Anthony Green, 

 gent.," and died without male issue in 1580," when 

 he was succeeded by his younger brother, also named 

 Thomas, who died in 1589 seised of lands here," 

 which descended to Richard his son. The subsequent 

 devolution of his estate has not been ascertained. 



The Treshams' pourparty descended to Thomas 

 Tresham son of William, great-grandson of John 

 Tresham and Isabel his wife. He sold 15 messuages, 

 260 acres of land, meadow, and pasture in Westleigh 

 and Hindley, and the mill of Westleigh to John 

 Byrom of Byrom, esq., in 1570," who died in 1 591 

 seised of the manor of Westleigh, and of several 

 tenements which he held of Richard Urmston, esq., 

 in free socage by the yearly rent of 21 ^</." Henry 

 his son died seised of the same premises in 161 3." 

 The fifth in descent from Henry and the last male 

 representative in the direct line was Samuel, better 

 known as ' Beau Byrom,' who squandered the whole 

 of his estates in early manhood and died in penury 

 sometime after 1739.'' 



In 1527, ten years after the partition of the 

 Harrington estates here, John Urmston set up a 

 claim to Westley Heath, which had been assigned by 

 Sir William Harrington, ' to be a sportyng place ' to 

 his tenants of Westleigh, to be occupied as common 

 for their cattle, and also to have butts at which to 

 shoot, and ' to have their dysportes wythyn the same 

 Heth,' claiming the heath as parcel of his manor of 

 Westleigh, of which he and his ancestors had been 

 possessed for upwards of 200 years. The claim was 

 resisted by Dame Isabel Tresham, widow, and Sir 

 William Stanley of Hooton, knt., and Dame Anne 

 his wife. The result of the suit is not recorded, but 

 the heath remains common land to this day, in accor- 

 dance with Sir William Harrington's intention." 



The Mather family (le Madur) '" occur in records 

 from the first half of the fourteenth century relating 

 to places in this parish. In the seventeenth century 

 they appear to have been yeomen of some substance. 



^ Hoghton's pourpartjr included lands 

 in Blackrod and a tenement in Westleigh 

 in the occupation of Nicholas Smyth, 141., 

 average 161^. ; 4 hens, 6d, ; 2 capons, 4.^. 

 (Ibid.). 



^ Tresham's pourparty included lands in 

 Turton and Hindley, and tenements in 

 Westleigh in the occupation of Ralph 

 Urmston, 37J. 4^. ; Richard Grene, 

 131. 4.d. ; Matthew Grene, ■^s. ^d. ; Gil- 

 bert Fraunce, 40J. ; for average, 2j. \od. ; 

 4 hens, 6d. ; z capons, 4J. ; William 

 Hindley, 43s., and average, &c. as before ; 

 John Smylie, 26J. %d., &c. ; John Lyn- 

 ley, 205., &c. i John Fraunce, 12s., &c. ; 

 Charles Leyland, 26s. Sd. ; William 

 Aynesworth, zod. ; Hugh Yate, i^-d. ; 

 David Pennington, gd. ; Westley Milne 



in the holding of Randle Mather, z6s. id. 

 (Ibid.). 



» Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 22, 

 m. 20. 



■• Ibid. bdle. 27, m. 236. 



* Inj. p.m. (Rec. Soc. xvi), 37. 



5 Feet of F. bdle. 108, m. 14. 



7 Clowes D. Box II, 67. 



8 Ibid. 71. ' Ibid. 



1° Ibid. 68. In 1690 Sherington suffered 

 a recovery of half the manor of Westleigh 

 and Pennington in favour of Alexander 

 Radcliffe, esq., John Parr, and Peter Parr ; 

 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 225, m. 65. 



11 Ex inform. Mr. W. D. Pink. 



12 Feet of F. bdle. 24, m. 57. 



18 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, n. 26. 

 " Ibid. XV, n. 39. 



425 



15 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 32, 

 m. 92. 



1* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, n. 37. 



17 Inn. P-'"- (R^"^- Soc), i, 271 ; ii, 10. 

 The premises in Westleigh then consisted 

 of two messuages, the mill, and 30 acres of 

 land, meadow, and pasture held as above. 



18 The Byrom Pedigrees (Chet. Soc. 

 xliv, pt. ii), 12-15 ; Lanci. and Chss. Antiq. 

 Notes, ii, 98-9. 



19 Hht. and Gen. Notes, ii, 365, 368. 



'" In 1445 Randle Madur of Westleigh, 

 yeoman, was attached to answer Henry 

 Kighley of a plea why he broke into 

 Henry's closes at Bedford, cut down his 

 trees, fished in his ponds and took away 

 fish, trees, and underwood to the value 

 of j^io ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 8, m. i. 



54 



